Anna Breslaw

Sort of a shame, really—I mean, I bet tonnnnns of people in the Bronx wanted an in-person glimpse of the one asshole kid who escaped her punishment at Willy Wonka's chocolate factory and grew up to be a hate-mongering scarecrow—but a speech by Ann Coulter at Fordham scheduled for December 6th has been cancelled after its announcement less than 24 hours ago was met with a massive campus outcry. The school's College Republican group rescinded Coulter's invitation after an online petition to stop the event received 2,000 signatures; it also elicited a harsh letter of admonishment from Fordham University president Father Joseph McShane.

"To say that I am disappointed with the judgment and maturity of the College Republicans... would be a tremendous understatement... [Coulter's schtick is] hateful and needlessly provocative - more heat than light." But while McShane called Coulter "repugnant," he felt he would be overstepping student freedom boundaries by quashing an unpopular guest speaking event. Ultimately, it was the students opposed to Coulter's appearance who got the event axed by pointing out that the College Republicans' events, like all academic clubs, were funded at least partially by tuition. And, y'now, that not everyone on campus was down with paying for the cheese plates at A Very Ann Coulter Christmas Bigotpalooza. Go figure. Finally, the College Republicans relented:

Looking at the concerns raised about Ms. Coulter, many of them reasonable, we have determined that some of her comments do not represent the ideals of the College Republicans and are inconsistent with both our organization's mission and the University's. We regret that we failed to thoroughly research her before announcing; that is our error and we do not excuse ourselves for it.

But hey, if you guys already bought those cheese plates, I hear Cthulu is available.